The assurance was given today in parliament by the Secretary of State for Social Security, Susana Filipa Lima, during a joint hearing requested by the PS at the Committee on Budget, Finance and Public Administration, and the Committee on Labor, Social Security and Inclusion. The session focused on the practices of Social Security when assessing citizens’ income for access to other social support and its impact for IRS purposes.
When questioned by Chega MP Lina Pinheiro about the need for data interconnection between the two services, the Secretary of State stated that this is an objective of the government.
“I do not hide that we have the ambition to interconnect data between Social Security and the Tax Authority, not to penalize the assignment of access [to social support], but to ensure that they are granted to those who need them,” she responded.
“The interconnection of data and the allocation of social benefits based on more complete information about the beneficiaries will allow for a fairer allocation of the social supports provided for by law and will also allow us to combat fraud, which is one of our concerns,” said Filipa Lima.
The official insisted that the goal is not to cut support but to detect abusive cases.
“It does not mean, of course, that we are going to use data interconnection to penalize those who should not be penalized. We are not, at all, making any use, nor do we plan to make this type of use, to make any kind of cuts,” she stressed.
“The more information we have, the fairer and more efficient the process of granting social benefits will be, and particularly the issue of detecting abuses and combating fraud,” she added.
